twenty-four violins, alias fiddles, which gave
birth to Tom Durfey's song of "_Four and Twenty Fiddlers all on a
Row_," &c.: a humorous production, in which there is a mockery of
every instrument, and almost every trade, and which used to be performed
between the acts, or between the play and farce, by some man of humour
at benefits.

The author of the Guardian, in No. 67, gives an account of Tom Durfey,
with a view to recommend him to the public notice for a benefit play,
and says, that he remembered King Charles the Second leaning on Tom
Durfey's shoulder more than once, and humming over a song with him.

_Roi des Violons_, or King of the Fiddlers, was anciently a title
in France. It became defunct, in 1685, owing to anarchy--thus _harmony
and discord cannot agree_.

P.T.W.

* * * * *

ROSEDALE ABBEY.

(_For the Mirror_.)

"A churchyard!--'tis a homely word, yet full
Of feeling; and a sound that o'er the heart
Might shed religion."

R. MONTGOMERY.

Ruins! so dark and lone,
The pride of other years,
On which the stars have shone,
To light the mourners' tears;
The ivy clings to ye,
And softly hums the bee
Where violets blue are blooming,
The liquid dews perfuming,
Beneath each withered tree.

Tombs! o'er your nameless stone
What gentle hearts have wept,
And there, at midnight lone,
Their silent vigils kept;
There Beauty laid her wreath,
And Love seem'd "strong as death,"
Around the pale shrines sighing,
While plaintive winds were dying
With music in their breath.

But childhood loves to stray
Whene'er the sward is green,
Round your mementos grey,
And haunts the mouldering scene;
And lovely in repose,
At sunset's gorgeous close,
Your holy walls seem blending
With purple light descending
Upon the beauteous rose.

Tombs of the past unknown!
Ye are fringed with violets blue,
And clouds have laved your stone
With sweetest tears of dew;
But when, by angels given,
The last dread peal of heaven
Shall rend ye all asunder
With its immortal thunder,
Your dead shall claim their heaven.

_Deal_.

G.R.C.

* * * * *

PORTRAIT OF STERNE.

(_To the Editor._)

As many of the pages of your extensively-circulated little work have
preserved memorials of _Laurence Sterne_, I hope you can